Broken

The Date

"Are you sure you should be doing this?"

Kagome ignored the increasingly annoying half demon in favour of choosing a necklace from her jewellery box.

"Hey!"

She tried it on and assessed her appearance in the mirror.

"Hey wench! I'm talking to you idiot!"

Happy with the way she looked; she pushed the chair away from the dressing table and got up. She then proceeded to fill her handbag up with random things she might require at some point in the night. With one quick glance around her room, casually overlooking the fuming dog demon plopped on her bed; she went out and headed downstairs.

Inuyasha jumped off said bed and followed her, "Why are you ignoring me?"

She was in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water, she placed the glass back on the counter and turned to regard him cooly, "Because you are being silly"

"What!"

"I'm just going out with my friends, we went to the doctor yesterday, he took off my cast, examined my arm, said it was healing perfectly and put my arm in a smaller more flexible cast and assured us I could start using it again and by god Inuyasha, that's what I'm going to do!"

He stared at her, at a loss for words when the doorbell shook him back to reality.

"Oh, that must be them" Kagome stated and went to answer. Inuyasha continued staring at the spot she'd been standing in a few moments before but his ears twitched at the top of his head, listening to what was happening in the other room.

He heard the creak of the door being slid open.

"Oh, hey Yuka, where're the others?"

Hmph, he hated her dumb noisy friends, why couldn't they just leave her alone? Its like they were always in her face..

"Oh, did I not tell you?"

"…Tell me what?"

And bringing her school work! Just when he tried so hard to make her forget about that evil place, they had to bring it home to her! Its like they all tried their best to make her miserable! Bunch of rat bastards!

"We're double dating. Jun and Hojo will be here any minute"

And always talking about some imaginary boyfriend all the time..like Kagome would ever be with an arrogant, selfish guy like that. Like he would ever let another guy near her…wait…what?

"What!" Kagome shrieked at the same time a male voice yelled, "Hobo!" from somewhere behind her.

Oh god…she hoped he was at least hiding his ears…

How the hell did she always find herself in positions like this? Did she do something horrible in her previous life? Was she a bad person? Did she not listen to her parents when she was little?

Ok, maybe there was one time when she might have given Souta a super wedgie and he couldn't walk for a week…but did that really warrant this kind of punishment?

"And that's why I thought those dried up lizard tails might help your food poisoning" Hojo stated proudly, a wide smile on his innocent face. He was completely oblivious to the fact that the only thing standing between him and a very painful death was the miko walking next to him.

Inuyasha on the other hand was livid…no seriously…he was just itching to spill the puny human boy's guts all over the sidewalk, and that would have already happened if Kagome wasn't holding his hand in a vice like grip and cutting off his blood circulation.

Better this than her holding Homo's hand, Inuyasha shivered involuntarily…picturing that made him want to throw up…

After Hojo's little speech on how he found out about the medicinal qualities of dried lizard tails, an awkward silence enveloped them…or maybe it was just awkward for her. Inuyasha seemed perfectly content glaring daggers at Hojo and Hojo just seemed too happy to be walking next to her.

To pass the time, Kagome thought of different ways by which she could secretly poison Yuka during the course of the night.

They were in front of the theatre soon and Hojo and Jun went ahead to get the tickets. Yuka tried to make small talk with Inuyasha but after receiving only grunts for replies, she gave up and went to get some popcorn.

Kagome sighed and faced her hanyou, "I'm really sorry Inuyasha, I didn't know Yuka was going to do this." She stared down at the sidewalk when he gave no indication that he had even heard her. "I just wanted to go out with my friends…like old times when…my life wasn't so complicated" She sighed again and headed toward the snack counters.

Inuyasha looked after her, his ears drooping under the bandana he was wearing…what did she mean by that? Did she regret falling into the well? Did she regret being the protector of the sacred jewel? Did she regret…meeting him?

After getting the snacks and the tickets, they went to find their seats. Inuyasha literally shoved Hojo out of the way and plopped down in the seat next to Kagome. He thanked the lords that her friend decided to be useful just then and take the seat on Kagome's other side. Hojo was forced to sit next to Inuyasha and he looked slightly nervous at the prospect. Maybe he did have some survival skills after all.

The guys had bought tickets for 'Scream 4'. What was it with guys and wanting to take girls to scary movies anyway? Did they really think that girls scared that easily? Kagome rolled her eyes when Yuka made a grab for her boyfriend's arm when the first scene started.

When half the movie was over and Kagome was digging hungrily into her tub of popcorn (which she was supposed to share with Inuyasha but he kept complaining that it tasted like plastic…which made her wonder, when had he eaten plastic?) and trying to figure out who the killer was, she felt a nudge on her arm.

She jumped a little and turned to face the half demon though she couldn't really see him clearly in the darkness of the theatre but she was sure he could see her perfectly.

"Why did you say that?"

"Huh?" Kagome gave him a confused look, "say what?"

"Back there when you said you wanted a normal life! Are you stupid wench!" He yelled only to be shushed by the people sitting behind them who were all giving him very nasty glares.

Kagome giggled at Inuyasha's startled expression. She bet he'd never been shushed before in his life. Then she patted his arm to calm him down and said, "I didn't say that"

"Yes you did, you said you didn't want such a complicated life" he glared at her, no way was she getting away with lying to him.

"I didn't say I didn't want a complicated life, I just said that I wanted to go out with my friends, like we used to"

"Yeah…" Inuyasha turned to stare back at the screen, someone else was getting killed but he couldn't care less, this movie was so stupid anyway. Why couldn't they just kill the crazy psycho killer before he killed them? That logic seemed pretty simple to him.

He was brought back to the moment by Kagome's gentle touch on the back of his hand. "What's the matter Inuyasha?"

He looked at her face, illuminated by the colored lights from the screen, and his heart ached at how beautiful she looked in that instant. He couldn't believe how deeply he'd fallen for her. He was nothing without her. But…if she wasn't happy with how things were then…he had to let her be happy. His heart stopped beating for that one second when he realized…he had to let her go…

"It's nothing" he said as he placed his other hand over her own and moved it back onto her lap, squeezing lightly before letting go.

Kagome gave him a funny look but shrugged and turned back to the movie. She was used to his mood swings and she knew he would tell her eventually.

After the movie, Yuka and Jun wanted to go have dinner at WacDonalds but Kagome said her mom would have already made dinner for her and Inuyasha and that they had better be going. Hojo offered to walk her back but she told him to go have dinner with the others, she had Inuyasha with her anyway. Said hanyou threw a smug look at the other boy.

On their way back to the shrine, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and entwined their fingers, the dog demon blushed, "Keh" and pulled his hand away.

The miko frowned at him, "Seriously Inuyasha, what's the matter with you? You're acting really funny"

He was trying, he really was but why the hell did she always have to make everything so damned difficult. He wanted to put her happiness first, Once they got to the shrine he was going to tell her she could live her own life with no obligations and then he planned on jumping into the well and destroying it so she wouldn't try to come back because of some twisted sense of guilt she always managed to feel.

And the more he thought about it, while sitting through that pointless movie, the more he realised that this was the best thing for her. She wouldn't be in danger anymore, she wouldn't get hurt and she could stay with her family, in her house with all the modern comforts that she was so used to. He could never make her as happy as she was here and he never wanted her to regret anything.

And even though letting her go would surely kill him, one day at a time, he could at least be peaceful in the thought that she was happy and safe.

And it was all these thoughts running amok through his head that made him utter the next few words.

"I don't want you to come back to the feudal era"

Kagome stared at him.

He stared right back.

A few crickets chirped in the distance.

"You…WHAT!"

Inuyasha fell over and sat down, hard, on the concrete sidewalk.

He didn't think he'd ever seen her this angry before. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why she was so pissed at him. What did he say?

"Just because I broke my arm, you think I'm useless? That I can't fight demons anymore? You are such an insensitive JERK!" She wiped at her eyes with her good arm and started to stalk angrily away from him.

"Wah.." Inuyasha proclaimed intelligently and ran after her.

"What the hell are you talking about? It's not because of your arm idiot! You're the one who went on and on about how you wanted to stay here and have a normal life…"

"I already told you that's not what I meant!"

They heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. It was an old lady with her two little grandchildren. The kids were staring wide eyed at the bickering pair. The old lady 'tsked' and muttered something about young people and drama queens before dragging the kids away.

Kagome blushed, "Lets just get home"

Dinner was a silent affair, Kagome and Inuyasha studiously ignored each other. Kagome helped her mom clean the dishes, she did the drying because she still wasn't supposed to get her cast wet, and bid goodnight to her family before heading to her room. Inuyasha watched her progress from where he was sprawled out on the floor, playing video games with Souta.

He pretended to stretch and yawn after creaming Souta's player again ("You have to be cheating" Souta accused the half demon) and said he was tired and was going to sleep.

Kagome's mother gave him an extra pillow and blanket from the hall closet, the hanyou thanked her and was about to start up the stairs when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Sometimes, what a person says and what they're thinking are two completely different things" The woman, whose eyes mirrored Kagome's, smiled at him. He nodded at her and raced up the stairs.

The miko was under the covers but he could tell she wasn't asleep from her uneven breathing.

"Hey wench…"

"…"

"I know you're awake"

"…"

"Kagome…"

"…What?"

The hanyou sighed and went and sat on the floor next to her bed.

"What did you mean when you said that?"

He heard the rustling of cloth as Kagome stuck her head out from under the blankets but he was sitting with his back to her so he couldn't see her expression. It was better that way.

"I want to go back to a time when my life wasn't constantly in danger, when the only thing I had to worry about is whether I would pass tomorrow's test, and hanging out with my friends didn't involve, fighting with crazy, power hungry demons. I can't deny that I haven't thought these things"

Inuyasha's heart broke a little more with each word she said. He didn't want to hear anymore and he was just about to get up when…

"But I still wouldn't change anything about my life"

Inuyasha spun around and stared at her, "But you said…"

"I know what I said Inuyasha, but everytime I say or think these things I know I don't mean it. I could never be without seeing your or the others. I don't care about the danger because I know you're always there to protect me, and hanging out with you and the others is more fun than I've ever had in my life. Sometimes I get stressed and say or think things that you don't need to worry about. They're just empty words.

The hanyou could hardly believe what he was hearing. And he couldn't help the grin that was slowly spreading over his face.

"So I don't need to worry about what you said?"

Kagome smiled gently at him, "No"

Inuyasha smirked, "Is that for just this time or do you mean for everything you say?"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked and slapped his arm, "You're such a jerk" but then she started giggling.

"Good night Inuyasha"

"Good night Kagome"

I could never be without you either…

AN: -I knowI haven't updated in a really really long time but its just been so so busy what with starting university and stuff. I hope you guys will forgive me. Anyway I hope you like this chapter. I got it out with quite some writer's block.

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